Campaign Outsider

Where’s MoDo?

New York Times Op-It Girl Maureen Dowd came slumming a couple of times during the James “Whitey” Bulger hoedown and contributed, well, not much to the trial coverage.

Representative sample:

In return for being that most loathed thing in Irish culture, an informant, and providing information about the Mafia, Bulger got protection and tips from [corrupt FBI agent John] Connolly. That allowed him to play Jimmy Cagney, dispatching underworld enemies.

Naturally, the hardworking staff expected Dowd to be here for the climactic conclusion of the trial, maybe comparing Bulger to, I dunno, Édouard Manet. “Both produced groundbreaking work (shallow grave, anyone?) accented by frequent slashes of red . . . ”

Instead we got this today:

Summers of Our Discontent

WASHINGTON — I have no doubt that Larry Summers can speak truth to power. Indeed, I’ve seen him yawn at power.

Once, when Vice President Biden was talking to a small group at a holiday party, Summers yawned, checked his watch and walked away while Biden was in midsentence.

Dowd adds, “the idea that it is somehow historically inevitable that the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve should go to Summers, that it belongs to him, that he would be an enthusiastic enforcer of bank regulation to protect the little guy? I have my doubts.”

Fine – but you couldn’t wait till Sunday to air them?

Headline this the Dowd of Our Discontent.